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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27415201">i feel like flying whenever we meet</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenblades/pseuds/brokenblades'>brokenblades</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, References to Depression, Youtuber AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:54:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,765</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27415201</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenblades/pseuds/brokenblades</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Minho doesn’t really consider himself an influencer, so there’s not really a point in going to a networking event. Why should he collaborate with people when he’s getting on just fine by himself? Except maybe he isn't getting on just fine by himself. Maybe he needs a little help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>STRAY KIDS MV FICFEST</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i feel like flying whenever we meet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for <a href="http://twitter.com/skzmvfest">SKZ MV FICFEST</a>; Inspired by Stray Kids' <a href="https://www.vlive.tv/video/205549">Airplane</a> M/V.</p><p>This fic was heavily inspired by the Airplane video as part of the event! As someone who consumes a lot of Youtube content, I felt like it had the vibe of a few friends getting together to make a silly video. This fic sort of spiraled out of control from there.</p><p>Big thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/augmenti/">augmenti</a> for being my biggest cheerleader and betaing for me. I wouldn't have finished this without you!</p><p>This is my first Stray Kids fic! I hope you enjoy it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Minho hits one million subscribers, Seungmin insists on taking him out for dinner to celebrate. Jeongin tags along with the insistence that he deserves a cut of the dinner because he’s been in a few of Minho’s videos and therefore contributed to his success. Minho doesn’t argue, partly because Jeongin will whine about it for days and partly because he’s his best friend and he’s a little bit right. Besides, Jeongin has been his biggest cheerleader for years aside from Seungmin, who edits Minho’s videos to cut out all of the times that he fucks up a dance move and falls on the floor to laugh.</p><p>Minho hadn’t even wanted to celebrate it, to be honest. It’s kind of irritating because he didn’t really start to gain subscribers at a fast rate until somebody put it together that he had been a backup dancer for BTS. Then it all happened way too quickly. There are whole compilation videos made of him in the background at BTS concerts and people begging him to do tutorials for the popular songs. It’s the strange sort of fame that only the internet can bring, where he can see comments and replies to his tweets, all begging for some sort of connection to a group he didn’t even work with anymore.</p><p>He had even made a Q&amp;A video, explaining that he didn’t dance for them anymore, that he’s a teacher now instead and happy with it. Still, people continued on until he got the play button in the mail that told him that one million people believe that his videos are either worth watching or at least worth pretending to care about while they hound him for stories about touring.</p><p>He has to admit, though; it’s kind of a rush. His videos have been hitting five hundred thousand views, and the idea that that many people are watching him does interesting things to his stomach. The comments they leave praising him for how easy he makes it to learn certain things do even better for him, scratching some sort of itch for praise inside of him that he hadn’t even realized he had.</p><p>“You deserve it, hyung!” Seungmin passes a bowl of jjajangmyeon over the table, and Minho scoops out a healthy serving into his own bowl. “You work hard!”</p><p>“Not as hard as I work,” Jeongin says, and Minho smacks his shoulder in protest. “What? It’s true! Do you think it’s easy to wrangle twelve preschoolers into a nap every single day? Today one of the kids ate a cricket and cried on me for an hour because his tummy hurt.”</p><p>Jeongin looks far more distressed about it than he sounds like he is, so Minho takes pity on him and only hits him half as hard the second time. “Aren’t you supposed to be stopping them from doing that kind of stuff? What kind of teacher are you?”</p><p>“The kind that’s tired every day,” Jeongin whines, pressing his forehead to the table. Minho rubs his back fervently for a minute before reaching over him to steal some kimchi off of his plate. “Seriously, say the word, Seungmin, I’ll quit right now and come edit videos with you!”</p><p>“Do you even know how to work After Effects?” Seungmin asks, shaking his head.</p><p>“I can learn if you teach me!”</p><p>Minho sighs and listens to the pair bicker a little more about how Jeongin wouldn’t know how to edit a video if Seungmin sat him down with the easiest tutorial ever and held his hand through it. </p><p>It’s nice to be out with friends. He’s found in the past few months that burnout is a real thing, even if you’re doing something you love beyond anything else. It’s the pressure of putting out content consistently. It’s something he had been struggling with even before his channel had blown up. Now it feels like he has to have a video out every week instead of whenever he felt like it, like if he waits too long now, people will start to feel upset and angry at him. Minho is well-practiced at not caring what other people think, but that’s usually restricted to people he interacts with in life and not the thousands of people relying on him for something that they care greatly about. He thinks this must be what idols feel like, but maybe their scale is so great and far removed from them that they don’t really mind so much.</p><p>“Minho-hyung! Lee Minho!” Seungmin prods insistently at his shoulder, and Minho realizes he’s spaced out, staring into his jjajangmyeon like it’s going to tell him the secrets of life and love. Maybe it will; he doesn’t know what they put in this stuff. “Are you okay? You were somewhere else there for a minute.”</p><p>“Thinking about work,” Minho replies honestly, and Seungmin makes a face. “We’re here celebrating work. How can I not think about it?”</p><p>“Yeah, but can’t you be happy about it and not sound like you want a meteor to fall into the restaurant?” Jeongin is in the middle of chewing a mouthful of noodles and a speck of broth lands on Minho’s cheek. He blinks rapidly and then closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and willing his self control to be strong enough not to punch Jeongin in the arm. This is supposed to be a good time, he’s absolutely right. </p><p>“You’re lucky I’m actually in a good mood.”</p><p>“You call this a good- ow! Hyung!”</p><p>Minho grins and lets go of Jeongin’s arm, giving his pinched skin a gentle pat in apology. Not a very good apology, since Jeongin frowns at him for a good five minutes and keeps rubbing at his arm, but Minho has never claimed to be a very nice person. Seungmin and Jeongin just liked him for some reason.</p><p>“Have you thought about going to that meetup yet?”</p><p>“Ah, no. I have a class that day, remember?”</p><p>“Your studio canceled classes for that day because they’re doing maintenance on the building, remember?” Seungmin gives him a very unimpressed look, as though he knows that Minho is making up excuses not to go. </p><p>It’s mostly a networking event for influencers to make connections with each other. Minho doesn’t really consider himself an influencer, so there’s not really a point in going. Why should he collaborate with people when he’s getting on just fine by himself? Nevermind that he doesn’t usually click with people easily, let alone a bunch of strangers from the internet that he only knows through carefully curated public personas and stupid prank videos. Besides, he doesn’t need to network with people from Youtube; he needs to network with other choreographers, other dancers. That’s his real job, even though Youtube does bring him in a little extra money. Whatever.</p><p>“Maybe. I’ll think about it,” he soothes, reaching out to steal some meat off of Seungmin’s plate.</p><p>“I just think you need more friends than us,” Seungmin says flatly like that’s the root of it all, and maybe it is, to him.</p><p>Minho clasps a hand over his heart, groaning. “Ah, no, are you sick of me already? Trying to get rid of me?”</p><p>“Come on, hyung; you only hang out with us. And sometimes Hyunjin,” Seungmin amends when Minho opens his mouth to argue. He pouts instead and folds his arms over his chest. “I’m not saying it to be mean. I just think it would be good for you to talk to people you don’t work with.”</p><p>“Isn’t the point of this thing to find people you might want to work with?”</p><p>“Sure, but wouldn’t it be nice to talk to other people who get what making videos is like?” Seungmin makes a face at him that Minho thinks is supposed to be puppy eyes but just makes him look like he’s about to pull out a meat cleaver and chase them around with it. Jeongin reaches out and pokes his cheek.</p><p>“Yeah,” Minho admits after the conversation dies for a few minutes and they silently clear their plates. “Yeah, I guess it would be nice to talk to others about it. People who get it.”</p><p>“Just RSVP. If you don’t want to go on the day, you don’t have to.”</p><p>He feels like he’s being placated and coerced at the same time, something Seungmin is exceptionally good at. “Don’t worry, hyung, we’ll be there, it won’t be so bad,” and “Just go for an hour and you can leave.” Seungmin always provides him with an out, and Minho has to admit that it’s effective.</p><p>“I’ll think about it,” Minho repeats, and Seungmin looks happier this time like he knows he’s convinced him to do it finally. Stupid, smug Kim Seungmin. Minho pulls his phone out and RSVPs to the email invitation before elbowing Jeongin’s side and pulling the rest of the jjajangmyeon towards him. “You’re coming with me,” he tells him.</p><p>“What! I have class--”</p><p>“In the morning, before the event.” Minho smiles, eyes bright. “So you can come with me at five.”</p><p>“You suck. God, you suck so bad sometimes, Minho-hyung.”</p><p>“I know. But you stick around anyway, don’t you?”</p><p>*</p><p>Minho doesn’t recognize all of the names on the guest list. It’s not really a formal list anyway; not all of the people in attendance are necessarily people that he <em>knew</em>  were invited. It was a Facebook event before the organizers actually sent emails out to specific channel creators. A closed Facebook event but a large one nonetheless. Last time he had checked, the count for invitations had been at two hundred.</p><p>There are a few people he does know who are going to be there: Lee Juyeon, who is part of another dance channel, Hwang Hyunjin, who runs an interior design channel, Lee Felix, who is Seungmin’s friend and runs a video gaming channel. Of course, he knows Jeongin, who had finally stopped complaining about two days ago about being dragged to a <em>“stupid dick measuring event for weirdoes with exhibition fetishes.”</em> Minho knows he doesn’t really mean it; Jeongin likes to pretend he thinks the circles Minho runs in are strange, but he’s always supportive and curious.</p><p>The list is long, and Minho recognizes a few channel names on it, a lot of ASMR channels, some gaming channels, a couple of people who he knows do mukbang. There are some dancing channels he thinks he might want to interact with at least a little bit, but he’ll see how the night goes.</p><p>The event itself is at the Marriott in one of the conference rooms, and Minho wonders if maybe networking isn’t the only thing some people are expecting out of this or if it’s just cheap and convenient to have a meetup in a hotel. Probably both, but who is he to judge?</p><p>There are still staff members setting up tables when he and Jeongin step into the conference room, one of the largest ones they offer, and a few people milling about looking lost and bored.</p><p>“Lee Know! Lee Know, over here, please!”</p><p>Minho turns to see a girl dressed from head to toe in lolita fashion waving from a table at him. He doesn’t recognize her but that doesn’t mean anything; he doesn’t think he’ll recognize a lot of people here. He realizes he’s staring blankly in her direction when she waves a little more furiously and shouts his name again. There’s a clipboard in her other hand and he realizes she must be checking people in, so he heads in her direction, pulling Jeongin along with him.</p><p>He’s a little startled when she drops her clipboard on the table with a thunk and holds her hand out for him to shake. When he reaches out, she grabs his hand a little too tight, excitement evident on her face. “I’m Minsoo! It’s so cool to meet you, I love your dance tutorials! I actually used one for a cover performance! You’re really good!”</p><p>“Thanks,” Minho bites out. This girl’s grip was really too much, what were they feeding her? “I don’t think I know your channel?”</p><p>“Oh, that’s totally fine, it’s a fashion channel, you know.” She finally lets go of him to do a little curtsy and then a twirl. “It’s kind of niche but I have a really nice community.”</p><p>“That’s… nice.” Minho forces a helpless smile and looks over at Jeongin, who looks fascinated by the complicated looking pattern on her dress.</p><p>“Do you sew your own clothes?” Jeongin asks and Minho blinks rapidly at him, mouth falling open a little.</p><p>“I do! You can check out my channel to find out more,” she teases and Minho turns around, expression twisting into something a little too close to disgust. He really can’t judge. This is what the gathering is for, isn’t it? This is supposed to be kind of fun, he isn’t supposed to hate every aspect of this. And besides, Minsoo seems nice. Like, maybe too nice though. “You just hit a million subscribers, didn’t you, Lee Know-ssi?”</p><p>“He did!” Jeongin answers for him. Minho turns back to see her holding out a little blank name tag and a pen so he takes it and writes his name down, peels off the back of the sticker and puts it on his shirt. “He got the play button a little while ago and stuck it in his closet.”</p><p><em>“Hey!”</em> Okay, it’s true, but Minho has a deposit on his apartment and doesn’t really want to be putting holes in the walls. Nevermind that it makes him a little sick to look at it and think about how the amount of people who are subscribed to his channel amount to what is essentially a city. What does he really do? Makes dance videos and posts them on the internet. Why is that so exciting? Why do people watch him and hit the subscribe button? He doesn’t really know. It’s not a question to be asking now anyway.</p><p>“Oh,” Minsoo frowns in that way that Minho knew she would, like she doesn’t get it, and maybe she doesn’t. “I don’t know if I would want to put mine up either,” she continues and he’s a little surprised at that. </p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s just that I don’t really do this for that kind of fame, you know? I do it because it’s fun.” She shrugs and picks her clipboard back up, marking something down on it. “Anyway, I hope you have a good time at our event, okay? I’m super excited to see who everyone gets along with!”</p><p>Minho nods and takes Jeongin’s arm, pulling him away from the table as Minsoo gives them a dainty little wave and turns to the next person checking in. “Come on, let’s get some food.”</p><p>The room has started to fill a little more since they first entered and the hotel staff are finished putting up tables, so Minho drags Jeongin towards one in the far corner of the room, closest to the buffet table they have set up. It’s mostly snacks, a lot of junk food that he normally wouldn’t bother with, but this is a special occasion, isn’t it? He can cheat on his diet a little bit. He had already cheated a little bit when he and Jeongin stopped for hot dogs on the walk to the bus stop.</p><p>“So, this is different than I thought it would be,” Jeongin says, biting into a choco pie and dropping into a seat. “It’s kind of low key, isn’t it?”</p><p>“There aren’t a lot of people here yet. And they haven’t started the activities.” Minho stabs a straw into his carton of strawberry milk and slurps obnoxiously at it like he knows Jeongin hates. “Do you see anyone we know yet?”</p><p>“I saw Hyunjin come in while you were trying to pull my arm out of the socket. <em>Ouch</em> by the way, hyung. He was with somebody else I didn’t know though.” Jeongin turns his gaze to the door to watch it with interest, shoving the last bite of his choco pie in his mouth fervently. “Do you think that might be his boyfriend?”</p><p>Minho narrows in on the question with a terrifying laser focus. “Why do you want to know? Does my little Innie have a crush?”</p><p>Jeongin rolls his eyes so hard Minho fears they’ll roll right out of his head. He laughs and pats Jeongin’s shoulder but that doesn’t quell the irritated look on his face. </p><p>“You aren’t convincing me very well, Jeongin-ah.”</p><p>“Seungmin has the crush,” Jeongin admits after another moment and Minho tilts his head to the side with interest. “He asked me to tell him if I see Hyunjin here with anyone that might be a date.”</p><p>“Why would he bring a date to this thing? It’s probably just some other influencer.”</p><p>“People bring dates to weirder things, you know? I had someone come into their parent-teacher conference with a date, like dressed up to go out and everything.”</p><p>Minho laughs. “I guess that’s a good way to tell if someone is serious about you or not.”</p><p>Jeongin looks like he disagrees but he doesn’t have a chance to say it. Minho sees Felix coming, so it’s a delight when he puts his hands over Jeongin’s eyes from behind and scares him so badly he nearly jumps out of his chair. He knocks one of his several choco pies on the floor and Minho helpfully picks it up, unwraps it, and takes a bite out of it before setting it back in front of Jeongin.</p><p>“Guess who,” Felix sing songs, hands still clasped over Jeongin’s face and grins over at Minho. “Guess who, guess who.”</p><p>“You’re a menace, Lee Felix.”</p><p>Felix lets go of him and slumps into the chair beside Jeongin, reaching over to steal some of Minho’s chips. Minho lets him this time, mostly because it’s been at least a year since he’s seen Felix in person and he didn’t realize how much he had missed him. Felix has something about him that makes it unsurprising to Minho that he has so many followers; it’s like he’s the sun and everyone else is just sort of basking in his light like fat and spoiled housecats. Experiencing that in real time with Felix physically in front of him is very special, though you would be hard pressed to get Minho to actually admit to that. </p><p>“How’s life, Lix?” Minho reaches over to ruffle at Felix’s hair, getting a playful little slap for his troubles. “How’s the world of League treating you?”</p><p>“Oh, perfect, you know. Nothing to complain about at all,” he complains. He shoves the whole handful of chips in his mouth and continues, muffled, “I don’t think I’m gonna stream it anymore, people are getting toxic and I’m tired. I started it for fun, you know? It’s not fun anymore.”</p><p>Minho frowns and throws an arm over Felix’s shoulder. “Aren’t you a Master or something? You love it.”</p><p>“Yeah. But what’s that saying? If you love something, let it go?” Felix shrugs. Minho wonders what it’s like to be able to do that so openly and freely. He would be the first to say that if you’re not enjoying something anymore, you should stop or get rid of it or do whatever you need to do to make yourself happier, but it’s one thing to say it and another to do it. </p><p>“Whatever makes you happy,” Jeongin says firmly, and Minho nods in agreement.</p><p>“I wouldn’t stop completely, just League. There are plenty of other games out there that are just as fun, right?”</p><p>“Sure. Maybe you could start playing Overwatch again,” Minho jokes with a nasty grin, and Felix pushes him so hard he falls off his chair.</p><p>“We are not playing Overwatch again,” he hears Jeongin whine from above him. Minho climbs back onto his chair and pouts at Felix, who is doing his best to hide his laughter.</p><p>“So, that’s a hard no from you, noted.”</p><p>“Never again.”</p><p>Someone else drops into the chair beside Minho and he turns to find a shock of long blonde hair in his immediate view. Hwang Hyunjin lifts a hand lazily in greeting and Minho reaches over to push at his shoulder a little, glad to see him. It really has been too long since he’s seen anyone outside of his class, aside from Seungmin and Jeongin.</p><p>“Who was that you came in with?” Jeongin asks immediately and Hyunjin clasps a hand over his chest in mock heartbreak.</p><p>“No hello? No how are you? Jeongin-ah, who taught you your manners?”</p><p>“He’s sitting right next to you trying to decide if you’ll notice him before he pulls your hair.”</p><p>Minho drops his hand, frowning at the betrayal from his closest friend and tugs Hyunjin’s soft hair noticeably instead. “When did you do this? It wasn’t like this in your last video.”</p><p>“Last week. Friday?” Felix reaches for more of Minho’s chips. “I have pictures of it before the toner, oh my God, it was so yellow, he looked like a banana.”</p><p>“You told me you weren’t taking pictures!”</p><p>“As if I wouldn’t take pictures of that.”</p><p>Minho shakes his head and pulls his phone out of his pocket to tap at one of his new games while they bicker. A message comes through from one of his dance students, so he answers that, and then an email from his boss. Sometimes you got the most work done while your friends were talking so loudly you couldn’t hear anything else.</p><p>“Anyway, I brought a friend,” Hyunjin answers Jeongin’s question finally and Minho tunes back in, setting his phone flat on the table to catalogue the information for Seungmin later. He wishes he were here; he had had a prior commitment, some new editing gig that he was excited about. He’s glad Seungmin is enjoying his work anyway.</p><p>“What kind of friend?” Minho asks, propping his chin in his hand and peering over at Hyunjin from under his hair. “Like a friend friend, or a <em>friend?”</em></p><p>“Just a friend-”</p><p>“Oh, thank god-”</p><p>“-What the fuck, hyung. We’ve known each other for a few years now. I met him in my drama class in university. He’s getting food right now, but he should be over in a minute.”</p><p>Jeongin is tapping away at his phone now, clearly having checked out of the conversation now that it’s confirmed that Hyunjin is not, in fact, dating whoever he brought here. Minho is happy for Seungmin, really, but he would have been a lot happier if he hadn’t had to learn about it through Jeongin. He has a tendency to tease too much sometimes, though, so he can’t say he really blames Seungmin for keeping it a secret for a while.</p><p>“Ah, there he is. I think you’ll like him, hyung.” Hyunjin gives him a sly look that Minho isn’t sure he likes. “He’s almost as obnoxious as you are.”</p><p>“Excuse me. Excuse me. Hyunjin, are you slandering me to your friends who I haven’t even met yet?”</p><p>Minho recognizes him immediately. He’d like to say he doesn’t, that the man in front of him is unfamiliar, some friend Hyunjin brought in at random, but it isn’t the case at all. The man walking up to their table with a plate full of food and a wide grin on his face is instantly recognizable to him, Felix, and Jeongin because the channel he’s from is wildly, insanely popular. </p><p>“Hey, you’re Han, aren’t you?” </p><p>3RACHA is largely known for their original music but that isn’t really what kickstarted their fame. The video with the most views, the one even Minho will admit to having watched a few times, is a video of the three rappers messing around with beats in the studio and improvising stupid raps about their day. There are a lot of clips that go around as memes still, months later. He sees gifs all the time. They’re all very talented. They’re all very cute. </p><p>“I’m Han!” The newcomer agrees, throwing his hands up and waving them a little. “Ta da. You guys can just call me Jisung. Or Han, or J.One, or whatever, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter.”</p><p>“Seungmin’s going to be so mad he couldn’t come today,” Jeongin mutters, fingers flying over his keyboard again. </p><p>Minho waves a little in greeting, since the rest of the group are a bunch of heathens who really don’t have any manners. He’s not going to get up though, and Han Jisung is sitting down next to Hyunjin now anyway, looking uncomfortably nervous. Minho isn’t sure why; he is by far the most popular person at the table now. </p><p>Hyunjin drapes an arm over Jisung’s shoulder and gives Minho a Look that he can’t quite decipher. Maybe it’s a warning look, or maybe that’s just how Hyunjin looks when he needs to use the bathroom, but Minho doesn’t feel like making trouble for anyone today so he smiles back placatingly. </p><p>
  <em>“Alright, everyone! Time to get started with a few party games!”</em>
</p><p>*</p><p>It’s not<em> terrible. </em>The party games are fun at least, a mess of hand games and puzzles that are brought to their tables. Minho guesses it would be useful for meeting new people if anyone were actually sitting at a table with people they didn’t already know. There’s a definite divide in the room, almost like high school cliques. He’s not entirely sure who or what the cliques consist of but their part of the room is mostly dance and music related. He recognizes a few faces, a couple of singers, some dancers, one person who does covers of popular songs on the gayageum.</p><p>Minho plays red hands with Jeongin for a little while, until he complains that Minho is hitting him too often—he’s just a sore loser—and disappears from their table to get more food. Minho stares at Hyunjin for a minute, where he’s engrossed in conversation with the owner of some other interior design channel, and then he plants himself in the chair beside Jisung.</p><p>“Aren’t there three of you usually?” He asks, resting his chin in his hand and gazing at Han Jisung with interest. </p><p>“Not three of <em>me,</em> I think everyone would agree that’s a terrible idea,” Jisung laughed, playing with the strings of his hoodie. Cute. </p><p>“Oh? You don’t think that would be a good idea then? Have your doubles do all the work you don’t want to do?” </p><p>“If I don’t want to do it, they don’t want to do it. And then we would fight and argue and who’s to say the doubles wouldn’t just kill me? Too risky.” Jisung shudders like it’s something he’s really given a lot of thought to. </p><p>“Agreed,” Minho decides, because he <em>has</em> given a lot of thought to that scenario, whenever he idly wishes there were more of him to do more work. He would settle for more time in the day now instead of more Minhos.</p><p>“Anyway, my two other halves had to work, but they’ll be here later. You should meet them too, we kind of have a question for you.”</p><p>Minho blinks, surprised and a little confused. “For me? We’ve never met before—“</p><p>“We’re fans of your channel,” Jisung admitted and Minho sighed. How could he have forgotten the entire reason they were here? Maybe he was having more fun than he’d thought but that didn’t change the fact that he was here to fuck around for what was essentially his second job. </p><p>It felt stupid to be exasperated over the fact that they knew of him from his videos especially since that was how he knew of them.</p><p>“You okay?” Jisung looks like he genuinely wants to know — he’s leaning forward, eyes on Minho and a frown marring his lips. “We don’t have to ask,” he says hurriedly. “I mean, we’re a bunch of strangers, just because we watch your videos doesn’t mean I feel like I have to have your time; I can leave right now—“</p><p>Minho wraps his hand around Jisung’s wrist and pulls him back into the chair. “Relax, it’s fine. I don’t mind. Now I’m really curious what your question is though.”</p><p>Jisung looks conflicted, like maybe he’ll get in trouble if he asks without the other two members of 3RACHA, and then clearly he decides to say fuck it. “We were wondering if you would choreograph a dance for one of our songs. And kind of... teach it to us.”</p><p>“You want <em>me</em>.” Jisung nods. “To do that.” <em>Nod nod</em>. “For you.”</p><p>“Yeah. Chan-hyung thinks you’re really impressive and he used to be an idol trainee, so he would know.”</p><p>Minho files that information away and leans closer. “What about you? Do you think I’m impressive?”</p><p>Jisung nods solemnly, the tips of his ears going red. He’s really cute. Minho doesn’t really want to stop looking at him, wants to see him smile suddenly, that big grin he gave them all when they were introduced. He wants that just for himself. Something twists uncomfortably in his stomach.</p><p>“I’ve heard some of your music. You’re pretty impressive too.”</p><p>Jisung rubs the back of his neck, and the blush spreads from his ears to his cheeks. “You like our music; we like your dancing; we should definitely collaborate now, right? I mean, it’s only right. We want to hang out with you, hang out with us.”</p><p>“Slow down there. I haven’t said yes. I’ll think about it. Is that acceptable?” Minho says before Jisung can open his mouth again and start to try and convince him. He’s a little shaken by the offer, honestly. He didn’t expect anyone to want to work with him, let alone by people who were way more popular and fans of his work.</p><p>“That’s fine.” He looks happier with the answer than Minho expected. Maybe that was all Jisung was really expecting from it.</p><p>“How’d you fall in with them anyway? You said Bang Chan was an idol trainee, hm?”</p><p>“Oh, yeah! He was a trainee for a while and decided to go to university instead. We met there. The three of us were in a music production class together.”</p><p>“Oh, that doesn’t make sense at all. You’re telling me the guys you make music with met you in a music class?” Minho arches an eyebrow. “I’m shocked.”</p><p>Jisung rolls his eyes and continues like Minho didn’t say anything. “We hit it off, and the rest is history. Started posting music to SoundCloud and YouTube.” He shrugs, and maybe it is all just history for him. Later Minho will ask him how that works; if there’s a third wheel, how they get along when someone disagrees on something. It’s weird and fascinating, and Minho is almost envious of it, having friends to work with. He wonders if they can keep their working relationship separate from the obvious friendship everyone sees in their vlogs. </p><p>“I saw your whole Q and A video. How do you even become a dancer for BTS?” Jisung looks curious but Minho doesn’t get the vibe that he’s fishing for information on the group or anything. That makes him feel a lot better honestly, more than he’d realized it would. He’s been expecting someone to pry into his life with those questions, ask him all about them when he doesn’t even really care anymore. </p><p>“I wanted to be an idol too,” he admits. “At some point, watching all of the things they dealt with, that dream sort of died. I just teach dance now.” It’s not really an answer but he doesn’t exactly have a good explanation for that time in his life, when he was so depressed he could barely get out of bed some days and decided he needed a bigger change than just becoming an idol trainee or something. He had wanted out. He had gone back to school for a little while and then been offered a job at the studio.</p><p>“You like it though, right?” Jisung’s eyebrows knit together in a frown.</p><p>“Sure, I guess. It’s a job. The teaching part, I mean,” Minho clarifies. “Dancing is my life.”</p><p>Jisung nods and Minho can tell he gets it. It’s not often that he meets someone who just gets it like that. Like, people are always so weird about it when you say something is your life and try to convince you there are other things to enjoy. But he thinks Jisung gets it because music is his life. </p><p>“I can’t imagine doing anything else,” he continues. “Except maybe modeling or something, have you looked at my cheekbones?”</p><p>Hyunjin makes a deeply offensive gagging noise beside them and Minho throws him a nasty glare when he turns around to face them, finished with his own conversation. </p><p>“Look at you two over here, talking about feelings and shit. Jisungie always brings that out in people.” Hyunjin throws an arm over Jisung’s shoulder and squeezes him until he’s smacking at his arm to be freed. “Say uncle.”</p><p>“Uncle, uncle, come on, man! I thought we were bros!”</p><p>“What’s a little tough love between bros, hm?” Hyunjin finally lets him go, flipping his hair over his shoulder. Minho really can’t get over how handsome he looks with his stupid long, blonde hair. It was a good decision. He'll have to beg for the in between pictures from Felix later. </p><p>“Hang on, phone.” Jisung puts a hand up, as though Minho or Hyunjin were going to interrupt his phone call and answers with a loud “Yo!” </p><p>Minho leans around the back of the chair to poke at Hyunjin’s arm while Jisung is on the phone, just to annoy him. Hyunjin jabs back at him until Minho glares and then he pulls back, playing at being terrified. </p><p>“Changbin’s car broke down,” Jisung says, giving Hyunjin an apologetic look and stabbing at his phone screen with his finger. </p><p>Hyunjin sighs and climbs to his feet slowly, like the weight of the entire world is dragging him back down into his chair. Minho gets up too and gives Hyunjin a very rare hug which he maybe deserves since it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other. Minho has missed him but he’ll never tell Hyunjin that. </p><p>“Seungmin told me you’ve been having a hard time lately, so please take care of yourself, hyung,” Hyunjin says, curling his arms around Minho’s waist. “Or I’ll come to your house and beat you up.”</p><p>Minho draws back to give him a very unimpressed look, and Hyunjin laughs, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Okay, okay. I’ll come over and cook for you then, and you know how that’ll go.”</p><p>Hyunjin isn’t a bad cook. It’s just that Minho likes to argue with him about the best way to do it. It’s fun and not really much of a threat because Minho really does like that idea no matter how much he complains about it.</p><p>“Don’t be a stranger,” Minho tells him, swatting the side of his head affectionately. “You only live like thirty minutes away.”</p><p>“I know, I know, I’ve been busy. Okay, come on, Sungie, let’s go.” Hyunjin throws his arm over Jisung’s shoulder.</p><p>“It was nice to meet you, Lee Know-hyung,” Jisung says, doing little finger guns at him. “Think about my offer!”</p><p>It isn’t until later, when Minho goes to tear Jeongin away from grilling Minsoo about her clothing line, that he realizes that he never got Jisung’s phone number.</p><p>*</p><p>The messages are endless. Minho curls up in his chair, petting Soonie absently as he scrolls through his Instagram feed. He doesn’t post very often, and when he does, it’s mostly pictures of his cats or his dinner. People eat it up; there’s something about a well pet cat or a delicious looking meal that garners thousands of likes. It’s proof of his motto: eating and living well, and it makes him feel a little better to look at comments about how cute his furry siblings are when he’s overwhelmed by the comments on his videos. </p><p>
  <em>Hey, can you please please please please please cover a GOT7 song?</em>
</p><p>Seungmin tells him not to read them all. Minho has always been notoriously bad at listening to him. Of course he can’t read them all, that would take forever and he likes having time to sleep. He reads a few, the top comments, and wonders why the negative and demanding ones always seem to get the most upvotes. Maybe it’s not necessarily that they do; maybe it’s just the time he looks at them that makes the difference, but he feels like it’s only ever the bad that he sees. </p><p>
  <em>You’re so bad. You’re so terrible, I can’t believe you were even a backup. You didn’t even deserve that</em>
</p><p>People can be so critical. It’s exhausting. It’s not like he wanted his channel to blow up out of nowhere and gain him hundreds of thousands of subscribers. It’s a fun little thing he does sometimes after dance classes, a way to blow off steam and teach more than just a few people something about the one thing he loves almost as much as his cats. He never asked for constant, vicious commentary on that.</p><p>
  <em>day 46 of asking leeknow to cover blackpink</em>
</p><p>He rubs at his face and opens up one of his favorite videos of Dori, closing out his channel tab like he promised Seungmin he would do whenever he gets too upset about it. He’s not sure why he’s even still doing this. Shouldn’t you stop doing things if they make you miserable?</p><p>But there are the comments that he treasures, the ones that make him feel good about the whole thing, the ones that give him the validation he craves so much. </p><p>
  <em>You’re so good! I love to see you every week. I always have something to look forward to. :)</em>
</p><p>It’s hard to decide. </p><p>“You are thinking so much over there that it feels like the whole apartment is about to go up in flames.”</p><p>“Shut up.” Soonie slides off of his lap, stretching below Minho’s chair before slinking off towards the hallway. “I’m tired. Sorry,” he offers, watching Soonie go with a pout.</p><p>“Are you thinking about deleting your channel again?” Jeongin peers at him over his glasses from the sofa like a little old granny, setting his lesson plan down in his lap. He cracks his knuckles and Minho cringes, groaning. </p><p>“Jeongin-ah, what have I said about early arthritis? I told you I’d start calling you creaky bones.”</p><p>Jeongin sticks his tongue out at him and cracks his other knuckle until Minho starts grumbling about just looking out for him and unappreciative maknaes. He pauses his video of Dori and spins his chair around to look at Jeongin, blinking rapidly at him until his friend sighs and crawls off the couch. </p><p>“I don’t know why you never want to sit on the sofa, hyung.” Jeongin deposits himself in his lap and Minho curls his arms around him, burying his chin in his shoulder. “It’s bigger than the chair and way more comfortable—<em> ow, ow, ow</em>—”</p><p>He stops digging his chin into the soft junction between Jeongin’s neck and shoulder. “Should I delete it? Do you think anyone would miss me?”</p><p>“Yeah, probably. I don’t have any idea why, but probably. I know at least three people who would miss your channel now, <em>hmmm?</em> They asked you to work with them. I really think you should.” Jeongin pets the back of his head a little, and Minho leans into the touch, frowning. Jeongin is never so affectionate with him, always complaining, and sometimes he won’t even just give him a hug. He must look like a mess tonight. </p><p>It’s been a couple of weeks since the networking party, and he would be lying if he said he hadn’t been thinking about the offer. Minho doesn’t turn things down often. There’s always an experience to be had, always something to be learned and enjoyed. It isn’t life if you aren’t living it. </p><p>He still doesn’t know though. What if this makes him more popular? There must be something wrong with him that the thought makes him so ill. Wouldn’t anyone be happy to be so popular online for something they loved doing?</p><p>“Maybe I will,” he says eventually. “Maybe I’ll get his number again from Hyunjin tomorrow.”</p><p>He could stop thinking about it if he were with other people. Probably. He wants to see Jisung again too, wants to know more about him, what makes him tick. </p><p>“I think that’s a good idea.”</p><p>“There are just a lot of people, Innie. And they want so many things.”</p><p>“I know, I know. Bunch of buzzards.” Jeongin pets his hair for a while and Minho spider monkeys around him until he ushers them both off to bed, grateful for the company. </p><p>*</p><p>“Okay, everyone! That’s enough for today. Remember to practice during the week before our next lesson or some of you will for sure be eliminated.” Minho claps his hands together and bows to his class in dismissal. Three or four students sit down, exhausted, but the rest start heading for the side room to pack up. He drops down to sit cross-legged on the floor and pulls his phone out of his pocket, wondering who could want his attention so badly that they would try to call him in class. </p><p>It’s an unknown number and there isn’t a voicemail, so he chalks it up to telemarketers and is about to put his phone away again when a message notification dings in from Kakaotalk. </p><p>
  <em>Is this Lee Minho? Sorry, this is Han Jisung, I got your Kakao ID from Seungmin. I was wondering if you wanted to meet for coffee sometime this week?</em>
</p><p>Minho likes Jisung. He liked him from the moment they met and he was going to contact him to tell him he had made a decision about his offer anyway (even though he had been putting it off and putting it off and putting it off), so it’s easy to agree and set up a time and place. He decides on Friday, at a coffee shop not too far from his and Jeongin’s apartment that he frequents on his way to work and his days off. Familiar territory. Then he calls Hyunjin and asks for advice on how not to fuck this up. </p><p>
  <em>“I really don’t know why you’re calling me though, hyung.”</em>
</p><p>“Aren’t you his friend? I thought you said you’ve known him since Uni.”</p><p>
  <em>“I have but. Well. I didn’t like him in uni. I kind of hated him, actually.”</em>
</p><p>Minho blinks and puts Hyunjin on speaker so he can lean forward to touch his toes in a stretch. That seems… weird. He isn’t sure how anyone could hate Jisung. He would be unsurprised if Hyunjin said he hated <em>him</em> when they first met, because Minho can be loud and obnoxious and strange, and not many people vibe with that. But Jisung seems sweet. </p><p>“Why’d you hate him?” He stretches his other leg, relishing in the burn that signified a hard day of work. </p><p><em>“He was obnoxiously good at everything. You know how I feel about people who are better at things than me,”</em> Hyunjin scoffs. There’s the sound of crinkling plastic on the other end of the line and it cuts Hyunjin off. Minho asks him to repeat his sentence and then decides he doesn’t like it when he hears it.<em> “I just had a really huge crush on him.”</em></p><p>“I see.” He inhales, exhales, switches legs again. “Had?”</p><p>
  <em>“Oh, Lee Know, Lee Minho, Minho-hyung. Do you like Jisung?”</em>
</p><p>Minho won’t mention the videos he’s been watching nonstop lately, all of the vlogs and one-offs that 3RACHA posts that give everyone just a glimpse into who they are as people. Hyunjin isn’t stupid and that would be playing right into his hands.</p><p>“... he’s cute, isn’t he.”</p><p>
  <em>“Very cute,” Hyunjin agrees.</em>
</p><p>“And funny. A little annoying but aren’t we all?”</p><p>
  <em>“Mmhmm.”</em>
</p><p>“And he seems passionate about things. Fun to tease.”</p><p>
  <em>“Minho. I don’t think you really need advice from me on this. Just be yourself. He’s asking you out, isn’t he?”</em>
</p><p>Minho sighs and slings his bag over his shoulder, waving goodbye to the last couple of students as they finally leave the practice room. “Kind of? He asked me to work on a project with 3RACHA and told him I would think about it. He wants to meet up.”</p><p>
  <em>“Well, that’s a good sign. You could have just told him yes or no on the phone, right?”</em>
</p><p>He could have. He didn’t, and now he’s going on what is seeming more and more to be a real, functional date. It’s been a long time since he’s been on a date. Not since right after he let his contract with BigHit expire and got his job at the studio. He dated around a little and then he had joined his dance crew too and started making videos, and… he’s too busy lately. He likes it that way but he would be lying if he said he doesn’t miss going out every once in a while. </p><p>He locks up the studio and sighs again before he realizes he hasn’t answered Hyunjin. It doesn’t matter; he can hear more crinkling plastic on the other end and figures his friend is getting ready for a video or something and isn’t too bothered.</p><p><em>“I’m assuming that’s a yes. Look, I wasn’t going to tell you this because it’s more fun to watch you flail around like a weirdo, but Jisung’s been talking to me about you since the party. He’s into you, hyung, so go on a date and see what happens, yeah?”</em><br/>
“Okay. Thanks, Hyunjin. You’ve actually been a big help for once.”</p><p>
  <em>“For once, what do you mean for once, I--”</em>
</p><p>“Gotta go, bus is leaving!” Minho hangs up the phone and presses it to his chest, smiling a little. Promise, promise. The future shows promise.</p><p>*</p><p>“Hyung, hey. Hey. How you doin’?”</p><p>Minho sips at his cup of coffee slowly, arching an unimpressed eyebrow at Jisung over the rim. “Is that your best pickup line?”</p><p>“Well, is it working?” Jisung smiles brilliantly and drops down into the seat across from Minho. </p><p>“You tell me.” </p><p>“You’re smiling, so I think so.”</p><p>“Hm.” Minho purses his lips and pushes his cup towards Jisung, wondering how long it’s going to take for him to get to the point. It’s still a date if you’re doing business first, right? He hopes it’s a date. Is he overreacting? Is he reading too deeply into this? </p><p>“Have you thought about our offer yet?” Jisung sips at the coffee happily, like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted. It’s full of sugar, the only way Minho can bear to drink it. His shoulders scrunch up and his eyes close in satisfaction, and he can’t stop watching him. “I think it’d be really cool to work with you.”</p><p>“Sell me on it again. What are the perks of working with 3RACHA? Are there any benefits? Healthcare, dental? Life insurance?” He pulls his cup back when Jisung sets it down and grins, pushing his anxieties out the window. “Do I get accident compensation if I pull a muscle teaching you how to get low?”</p><p>Jisung snorts. “Do you get any of that with your dance crew?”</p><p>He wonders briefly how Jisung knows about that but then remembers he has them linked all over his social media. It’s not too much of a surprise that he’s been stalking him a little. </p><p>“You’re avoiding my questions,” Minho says patiently, reaching out to poke Jisung directly in the center of his forehead. He leaves his finger there until Jisung goes cross-eyed trying to look at it. “But no, I don’t. That’s not a job.”</p><p>“Changbin is willing to pay you,” Jisung says hurriedly, pushing Minho’s hand away. “We’d pay you for your time, obviously, but you would be in the video too, you know. Not just choreographing the dance.”</p><p>“Why do you even need a dance anyway? Don’t you guys usually just turn the camera on and go?” His Americano is starting to get cold. The coffee shop doesn’t really have the heat turned up as high as they should in the middle of a cold front, but they’re small and probably cutting costs. Probably trying to freeze their customers out too. It’s a classic business practice, get more customers in and out as fast as possible, don’t want anyone taking up a seat for too long. Too bad for them because Minho always stays as long as he possibly can on days like this. In fact, if he keeps on like this he’s going to be sitting here forever, frozen with the cold and nerves until he passes out.</p><p>“Yeah but there’s only so many times we can do that.” Jisung gives him a pleading look, and then his expression smoothes over into something a little more determined. “At some point you want to do something a little bit more complicated and cool, right? None of us are dancers.”</p><p>“Hm. Why me?” Minho reaches out to clasp Jisung’s hand and grins. “Is it because I’m so handsome?”</p><p>Jisung laughs nervously and pulls his hand out of Minho’s. So he could give it, but he couldn’t take it. “First, we asked Hyunjin because, you know, he takes classes too.”</p><p>“Not mine,” Minho replies miserably, but Hyunjin is admittedly too good for Minho’s beginner classes. More than once he’s tried to get him to come in and help teach a little just for some differing perspective, but Hyunjin always begs off as busy. Minho doesn’t blame him. It’s not his job.</p><p>“Hyunjin showed us your videos and we decided to ask you. That was kind of the only reason I came to that thing with him in the first place,” Jisung admits, scratching the back of his neck. “We were gonna send you an email but he said he would introduce us to you and we could ask then.”</p><p>“Oh, it’s not my charming personality then.” Minho pouts and looks down into his coffee, tracing the rim of his cup. So this was all Hyunjin’s doing in the first place. No wonder he had been so unreceptive to Minho’s prodding on the phone. “Disappointing.”</p><p>“If I said it was your charming personality, would you say yes?” Jisung’s eyes are wide and pitiful and Minho can’t resist reaching out to ruffle his hair. He pushes Minho’s hands away, groaning a little. “I’d really like it if you would do this with us.”</p><p>“Hmm.” Minho taps his chin and pretends to consider it some more. The truth is, he’s already made the decision to work with them. It’s just fun to make Jisung suffer a little. “Get me a cookie and I’ll think about it.”</p><p>“Okay!”</p><p>“No, I’m—“ He grasps the hem of Jisung’s hoodie and tugs him back into his seat, smoothing out the wrinkles he’s created. “I’m kidding. I’ll do it for you. For the three of you,” he corrects, face going hot at the slip. “For 3RACHA.”</p><p>“And for yourself,” Jisung says firmly. “It’s not fun unless you really want to do it. I really want you to do it but that doesn’t mean you have to do it.”</p><p>“Sure, it’ll be fun,” Minho replies easily. “Why not.”</p><p>Jisung frowns and leans all the forward, putting his chin on the table and staring up at Minho with wide, pleading eyes. “Promise?”</p><p>“Oh my god, I promise. Cross my heart. I want to work with you guys, I really think it’ll be fun.” Minho stops resisting and reaches out to ruffle Jisung’s hair goodnaturedly. He leaves his hand there for a minute and Jisung smiles up at him before sitting up and dislodging it.</p><p>“I want a coffee. In celebration or something,” Jisung says, standing. Minho watches him until he gets to the counter and then flips his phone back over on the table, texting Hyunjin. </p><p>
  <em>A little birdie told me you set me up, Hyunnie. Remember what I said about the air fryer?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <b>I don’t care, hyung, deep fry me for all I care. I knew you’d like him. </b>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho puts his phone back down and smiles at Jisung a little too enthusiastically. He stops, trying to smooth it out into something a little more relaxed. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Americano, americano,” Jisung sing songs, doing a little dance in his seat and cradling his cup to his chest.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hyunjin told me he had a crush on you when you met,” he blurts out, partly because he can’t think of how to continue their conversation, partly because he really wants to know if it was or is requited. Hyunjin said they weren’t dating. Minho is just covering his bases. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>To his surprise, Jisung just slaps a hand to his forehead in exasperation. “I wish he would stop telling people how we met, it’s embarrassing.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho blinks and leans forward. “Okay, hold on, he didn’t tell me exactly how you met, only that he didn’t like you. How did you meet?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Oh my god, okay, okay.” Jisung takes a breath like he’s preparing himself for a long and grueling tale full of betrayal and anguish. “It was a rap battle.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho can’t help it: he laughs, because of course it was. Something weird and totally out of the blue like that sounds just like Hyunjin, who talks himself into trying new things and gets mad when he doesn’t do them perfectly the first time.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I beat him and he hated me for a long time, except that he kind of couldn’t stop telling me how much he wanted to smash his lips into my lips?” </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“This is way more embarrassing for Hyunjin than it is you. And I thank you so, so much for the new material I’m going to have to blackmail him with.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“This is probably why he didn’t tell you about it,” Jisung groans. “And now he’s gonna kill me for saying something.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I don’t know, I think I’d rather die by his hands than someone else’s. At least he would make it quick.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“That’s true. He doesn’t have it in him to drag a murder out for long. Can I ask you a question, hyung?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho sips at his cold coffee some more, cringing a little at the thick feel of it sliding down his throat. “Shoot.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“If I hadn’t messaged you, would have ever contacted me again?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You didn’t leave me your phone number,” Minho says mildly.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hyunjin has my phone number.” There’s a whiny quality to Jisung’s tone that Minho would hate hearing from anyone else. On Jisung, it just sounds cute. “You could have asked him for it. It’s been almost a month since we met.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I’m surprised you didn’t ask someone else,” Minho admits, looking down into his cup. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I didn’t want to. Changbin wanted to, but I kept telling him to wait, and then I finally couldn’t wait. So, were you just gonna leave me on read?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho shifts uncomfortably in his seat and can’t look at Jisung’s face because he’s afraid of what it looks like for him to be hurt. They’ve met a total of two times and Minho has already decided he doesn’t want to see Jisung hurt; it’s a new record for him. He has a tendency to pick up strays. He’s just never done that with a person before. And Jisung isn’t even really a stray- he has a life and friends and Minho thinks he would do quite a lot to be a part of that someday. It makes his stomach turn. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I was going to say yes. I was going to get your number from Hyunjin but you beat me to it.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Why’d you make me wait so long?” Jisung bites his lip in a frown. He hasn’t touched his coffee. Minho reaches for it suddenly and takes several large gulps. He watches Jisung’s face for any kind of anger about it but he just looks mildly irritated. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I usually make decisions pretty quickly. Life is short. There are things that I do agonize over.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Thank you,” Jisung says eventually. “For being honest. Sorry I dragged it out of you, I don’t usually like to talk about feelings or whatever no matter what Hyunjin says. You kind of looked like you could use it though.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho is a little perturbed at that. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>He doesn’t argue.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>*</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Changbin’s house is huge. Minho has to crane his neck to look up at it when he climbs out of his taxi, dragging his dufflebag out behind him. Jeongin makes a loud, awed noise beside him and starts to drag his suitcase up the driveway, making little excited noises as he walks. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho can see Jisung in the distance, waving furiously as he makes his way outside and across the big lawn towards them. Jeongin waves back and Minho raises his hand in a half-hearted greeting. He’s still a little uncertain about this. Not the situation in its entirety, just the whole “teach us to dance in a week and we’ll film a video!” thing. It’s only a week because it’s winter break and the only time they found that they could get off from work and school.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>It also gave him a month to work on the choreography for 3RACHA’s song, which he’s exceedingly grateful for. He isn’t going to admit that he wanted it to be perfect, not to anyone but himself.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>From what Jisung has told him, it’s going to be 3RACHA, Hyunjin and Felix (who is apparently good friends with Changbin and comes over to game all the time) for moral support, and Seungmin to film and edit the whole thing. It’s weird when he thinks about it. Six degrees of separation and all that. Someone who knows someone knows someone that you know.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Of course, Minho brings Jeongin with him. He’d never be forgiven if he didn’t.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hey! Come on in, we’re about to get lunch and stuff,” Jisung says, leading them up the driveway and into the house. “Just drop your stuff in the living room, you can get it later.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>The front hallway is huge. Minho doesn’t exactly know where Changbin’s money comes from or exactly how much he has but he’s convinced now that he doesn’t want to know. It’s none of his business but he’s a little curious. Jisung leads them into a living room that’s equally huge. There’s a giant TV mounted on the wall and a couple of genuine looking paintings. The sofa is dark leather and the wooden coffee table is a rich brown. They both look like they cost an entire paycheck for Minho. He definitely isn’t going to ask. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jeongin looks so impressed that Minho is worried his eyes are going to pop out of his head. He stands his suitcase beside the couch, careful not to lean it against it. Minho drops his own duffle bag on the cushions without any preamble and ignores the way Jeongin grimaces. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Couches are for sitting on,” he says loudly, and Jisung gives him a strange look, clearly not having witnessed Jeongin being a <em>weirdo.</em></em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“And sleeping,” Jisung says though, and Minho gives him a grateful look. He gets the feeling that Jisung is the kind of guy that would lay on the floor with you when you got knocked out to pretend you were just chilling. “Come on, kitchen’s this way.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho slings his arm over Jeongin’s shoulder, and they follow Jisung up a set of stairs, whispering to each other the whole time about how ridiculous it is that the kitchen is upstairs. Jisung doesn’t seem to notice. Maybe he’s as nervous as Minho is about all of this.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“No, no, no!” Minho hears from down the hall and sighs. Jisung turns to give him an awkward smile and pushes one of the doors open to a scene of chaos.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Felix is practically climbing Bang Chan, who is holding a pan high above his head in front of the stove. “No, no, Felix, man, this is my grilled cheese!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho snorts. At the table, Changbin is slowly loading Seungmin’s plate full of vegetables while he’s distracted talking to Hyunjin. Minho catches his eye, and Changbin just grins, nodding his head in greeting.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Minho! Finally. We were just talking about you,” Hyunjin waves him over, so he takes the seat across from him, resisting the urge to scrape the chair across the floor obnoxiously. He <em>does</em> want to make a good first impression on Changbin and Bang Chan.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Gossiping is shameful,” he chides, reaching across the table to take Hyunjin’s hands in his own. “What were you saying?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I was just saying that you’re the best dancer I know!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho narrows his eyes at Hyunjin suspiciously. “A compliment like that from you?” He squeezes Hyunjin’s hands, and Seungmin sighs audibly, reaching over to slap at them both. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“He was telling me that you two have been texting a lot about the choreo. I’m sure it’s great like always, hyung.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I want to see it!” Changbin says loudly, draping himself against Hyunjin and getting shoved away for his troubles. “I know you just got here but we’re really excited. It’s like all Hannie has been talking about for days.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Really?” Minho glances back at Jisung, who has joined Felix in the attempt to get grilled cheese from Chan. They’re both hanging off of him, whining cutely, and Minho can’t help his smile. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Told you,” Hyunjin turns to say to Seungmin immediately and Minho snaps a glare back at him. He looks delighted, and so does Seungmin. It’s infuriating.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hey, shut up, Lee Know is gonna show us the choreo. Don’t you want to get a head start?” Changbin shouts over Felix and Jisung. They stop immediately, and Jisung pulls at Minho’s hand until he stands and allows himself to be dragged back down the stairs. The chatter around him is loud and excited, and he doesn’t really pay attention to any of it, just watches the back of Jisung’s head. He looks back at him and Minho feels a little like he’s floating.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Changbin has a practice room,” Jisung explains over everyone else. “Well, it was a home gym, but he never used it, so he sold the equipment, and it’s been sitting empty for a while. Perfect for a practice room, though, right?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho nods. He doesn’t know. Probably? “The thing a good practice room needs is mirrors, honestly.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Yeah, it’s got a wall of mirrors,” Jisung confirms. They head down the stairs, past the living room and several doors, down another set of stairs and another door, and then he’s pushing Minho into a warm, bright room. It <em>is</em> perfect for a practice room. A little on the small side but there’s enough room to fit eight unruly adult men into it. The floor is shiny wood and the opposite wall is indeed lined with mirrors.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho shrugs his jacket off onto the floor next to the door and starts to stretch. “Come on. Everybody stretches. If one of you gets a cramp I’m not helping you out.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Felix raises a hand. Minho nods at him to go ahead. “Even if we’re not doing anything?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“He did say everyone,” Chan says to Felix, curling an arm around his shoulder. “Come on, Yongbokkie, it’ll be fun!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho gets them all going with some warm-ups and stretches, very basic, very much exercises that he would teach to his beginner class of ten-year-olds. There’s a little bit of groaning, all good-natured and enough to make Minho feel a little more comfortable with all of this and not totally awkward and out of his depth. It <em>is</em> fun, he can admit.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jisung stretches beside him and Minho tries not to watch the way his shirt rides up, showing just a little bit of skin, a little toned muscle that he doesn’t think he’ll be able to take his eyes off of if he looks for more than just a second.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Okay, everybody sit down. I’ll show you the dance. It’s the same for all three of you, I thought it would be a little easier that way.” Minho syncs his phone up with the little speaker that Changbin hands him and starts the song.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>It’s easy to let himself get lost in the music. He can stop thinking and let the rhythm take over, let his body move to the beat. The song is only two and a half minutes long but it feels like he dances forever, twisting and turning and rocking his hips. He doesn’t pay attention to the boys sitting on the floor behind him, can’t watch them in the mirror or he’ll lose his nerve. For some reason, it doesn’t feel like dancing has ever been more important than it is right now. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>The song comes to a close and Minho stands there, panting, and gives himself a minute with his eyes closed before he turns around and lifts his arms. <em>Ta da.</em> He only has a second before he’s being dogpiled and several hands are patting him on the shoulders and the back. He thinks those are Hyunjin’s arms around his waist but he isn’t sure. Chan is looking at him so gratefully he isn’t really sure how to react or respond, so he kind of just freezes up.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“That was so good! We are gonna look so good doing this!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho clears his throat. “Okay, but you have to work really hard this week or we aren’t going to have the time to learn it all.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Can we all learn it? Can we all film?” Felix nudges Chan excitedly. “Wouldn’t that be cool if we all did it, we could do it in sync?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Chan just shrugs. “It’s fine with me if it’s fine with Jisung and Changbin. And Minho. He’s going to be the one teaching us, hm?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“It’s fine with me,” Minho says immediately because he’s been trying to get Hyunjin in one of his classes for years, and this is the closest he will ever be. Hyunjin has potential.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jisung and Changbin agree too, and Minho discovers that they all have potential fairly quickly. He finds out that Felix has a history in kickboxing, which lends towards a strange sort of grace in his movements. Jeongin and Seungmin are arguably the least versed in dancing, both having lives outside of being on camera, but they hold their own well. It’s probably from all the Tiktok videos. Chan is practically perfect; Minho puts it down to the idol training and that’s that. Changbin and Jisung struggle a little but it appears Chan has been teaching them a few things to prepare for this. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>It’s nice. It’s fun. Minho hasn’t felt good about preparing for a video in ages, but this? This is good. It feels right.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Day one ends with all eight of them sweaty and starving, back in the kitchen and waiting for Changbin to come back upstairs with takeout. Felix is draped over Minho’s back and it’s sticky and hot, but he’s too content and tired to push him off. He drops his forehead against his arms on the table and Felix leans further over, a warm weight on top of him.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Thanks for teaching us, hyung. It was really fun,” Felix mutters next to his ear and Minho just hums in agreement. “I hope you feel a little better.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho wonders exactly how much they’ve all been talking about him lately. He guesses he has been agonizing pretty hard over the channel. He just didn’t think it was <em>that</em> big of a deal.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>It becomes pretty clear over the course of the next few days that it really is that big of a deal.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>*</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho isn’t really sure how you can be stuck in a rut without knowing it, but as the days pass, he comes to realize that the past few months have been just that for him: a rut. Maybe he needed a little more outside perspective to see it, but now that he isn’t thinking so much about producing content constantly, he realizes how much it had been weighing him down. He’s not sure he’s even been enjoying dancing now that he thinks about it. Showing off the choreography to his friends had been the first time in a while that he’d just stopped thinking so hard and let himself go.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>The next few days are undeniably good. The schedule stays pretty much the same for each day: they get up in the morning, have breakfast, and then go down to the practice room for a few hours. There’s lunch, another couple of hours of learning dance moves, and then they film the parts of the video that aren’t going to be the dancing. 3RACHA really show themselves to be natural performers. They all take turns filming and being in parts of the video, the concept of which Minho still isn’t really sure about. Something to do with an alien invasion? It doesn’t matter a whole lot to him, he just has fun harassing his friends during different scenes. Changbin came up with the concept and he seems to like to change it on the fly to fit the amount of people they now have invested in the video.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>They have dinner after and the first couple of days they watch movies. The third day has the first change, and that’s that they play UNO after dinner instead of watching a movie. It’s absolute chaos. It’s the most fun Minho has had in months. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Shut up! Shut up. You can’t do that, that’s cheating!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“It’s not, it’s not!” Chan shoves the little instruction card in Minho’s face and he reads it, furious, and has to concede defeat, drawing eight cards. They go around again, and then Chan places his last card and throws his hands up, victorious. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho throws his cards down on the table and stamps his foot. “I will get you back for that, Chan-hyung, I will, mark my words!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Chan is laughing delightedly, so Minho looks to Jisung for backup. “He helps pay my bills!” Jisung shrugs helplessly.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Traitor. No honor here, is there? Hyunjin?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Hyunjin throws his hands up. “I <em>guess.</em> To be fair, you were the one cheating a little, hyung.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hey!” Minho is grinning when he shakes Hyunjin’s shoulder.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>*</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>The sofa shifts next to him but Minho doesn’t look up from his mobile game. He’s close to winning his next race and that’ll push him over the edge to the next rank, so he can’t afford any distractions.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>A head of dark hair presses against his shoulder so that narrows it down to... six other people. Clearly it’s not Hyunjin unless he dyed his hair again. He’ll place his bet on either Jeongin or Felix. They’ve all gotten comfortable with each other fairly easily, half of them having known each other beforehand and the other half trusting the judgment of their friends.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Are you happier, hyung?” It’s Seungmin. That’s a complete surprise. Seungmin never, ever cuddles up to him like this. Minho finishes out his race and a notification slides up, congratulating him for ranking up, so he sets his phone down in his lap.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Everyone keeps asking me that. Have I really seemed so miserable?” Minho asks, bemused. “I am, as the kids say, vibing.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You seem happier here.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho shrugs, dislodging Seungmin from his shoulder. He shifts away on the couch so he can look at Seungmin while they have this conversation, though he doesn’t think there’s really a lot to talk about right now. He really is just going with the flow now. It’s a lot easier than worrying so much all the time.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Yeah, who wouldn’t be? All of our friends are here. We’re having fun. I don’t know what you want?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Seungmin sighs and gets that pinched look on his face, the one he gets when he doesn’t know quite how to tell Minho things without being too much of an asshole about it. Minho doesn’t ever really mind when Seungmin is brutally honest with him, so he’s not sure why he’s putting on that face now.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Let me ask you something: do you think you’ll keep making videos after this? It’s been a month since your last choreo video and I’ve seen some of the comments.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Ah. “Well. I can always trust you not to beat around the bush, huh.” He ruffles Seungmin’s hair. “You know, it was so easy for Felix to just stop making League videos. He just decided that he didn’t want to anymore, so he didn’t. It didn’t seem like he cared at all what his audience was going to say.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“He lost a lot of followers but not all of them. And he’s gained more since he started making different videos,” Seungmin points out, pulling his legs up underneath him. “Is that what you’re so worried about? Are you worried about letting people down?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho exhales shakily. “Yeah. I guess. I get a lot of comments about how much people look forward to my videos. If I just stopped, what would that do to them?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Seungmin watches him quietly for a minute, expression indecipherable. “I think you should care more about yourself, hyung. You play this cold, unfeeling thing up, but you care a lot about people. Make yourself one of those people for once, yeah?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“It’s not that easy,” he starts to argue and Seungmin covers his mouth with one hand.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“No, it really is. I think this week has been good for you. Why don’t you keep letting things be good for you?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>He wants to. He really, really does. He just isn’t really sure how to yet.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>*</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>It’s too cold to use the outdoor pool but Changbin has an indoor pool apparently. Minho has committed himself to not asking and not wondering why Changbin is like this, so he just takes the offer to use it without question. It’s good for the muscles that everyone is complaining about anyway and no one minds that he didn’t tell them beforehand so they could bring swim trunks. Underwear is just fine, though it makes Minho feel a little like a giddy teenager breaking into the school after hours or something.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho wades in the shallow end and watches Felix up on Changbin’s shoulders and Jeongin on Chan’s, the four playing a very violent game of chicken. He isn’t sure how they have the energy after dancing all day because he’s wiped out. Seungmin and Hyunjin are tossing a beach ball back and forth, chatting about something that Minho can’t quite hear over the splashing of the others. Jisung sits on the edge of the pool, swiping through a playlist and changing the song every time he finds a different one he wants to listen to.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho wades over to him, folding his arms over the edge of the pool and staring up at him. Jisung doesn’t notice for a minute. His tongue pokes out of the corner of his mouth as he stares intently at his phone. It’s adorable. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Indecisive today?” Minho says loudly and that startled Jisung so badly he almost drops his phone. He catches it last minute, so Minho doesn’t feel too bad about laughing. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You- ugh,” Jisung manages, crossing his arms over his chest indignantly. He puffs his cheeks out and Minho doesn’t know if he realizes he’s doing it. He pokes him in the thigh and climbs out of the pool, dripping carefully on Jisung’s arm and hip. “You tease too much.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I tease just enough. You like it.” Minho throws a wet arm over Jisung’s shoulder. “Not a fan of swimming?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Not a fan of swimming with them,” Jisung nods at the rowdy group before them. “Changbin always dunks my head under and messes up my hair.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“No one cares what your hair looks like while you’re swimming,” he scoffs, eyeing Jisung’s carefully gelled hairdo. “The point is to be swimming, not looking good. Some people even go for the wet hair look.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jisung glances over at him curiously. “Are you some people?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho dips his hand in the pool and flicks some water at Jisung, who flinches and covers his phone. “You could find out, you know.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Okay, okay, I get it.” He gets up to put his phone away and Minho watches him, head cocked and eyes fond. He slides back into the pool and waits until Jisung steps down the stairs and into the water before he makes his move. He cups his hands under the water and splashes up at Jisung, drenching him immediately. Jisung’s mouth falls open and then he’s chasing Minho towards the deep end, splashing furiously behind him.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You think you’re so sneaky!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho laughs and laughs until Jisung is laughing too, draping himself all over his back and cupping water into his hair.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“For the record, I like the wet hair look, hyung,” he says, and Minho feels like he’s flying.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>*</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>They wrap the video late on the very last night and Minho finds himself not wanting to follow everyone back downstairs. Dinner is ready, but he wants to soothe the ache in his chest with a little stargazing. It’s no surprise that Jisung stays behind with him to stare out over the edge of the rooftop with his arms crossed over his chest, a contemplative look on his face.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho is fine with the peace and quiet. It’s not something he gets often with their little ragtag group of pranksters. Everyone has been so excited about the project that he hasn’t been able to get a minute to himself.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>It’s been good. He can’t begin to describe how nice it’s been to stay here and work on something like a song, how strangely fulfilling it is to achieve a childhood dream. Like something had finally slot into place inside of his chest and made him warm and full and whole. That was probably why it was bothering him so bad that they were nearly done. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hyung, why did you decide to make videos?” Jisung’s tone is so carefully even that Minho can barely hear the shaking in it. He doesn’t know why he’s picking up on it, if it’s the quiet of the rooftop or if he’s tuned himself into Jisung’s mannerisms that well. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I guess I thought it would be fun,” Minho says, frowning a little. “It is fun.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Then why did you tell Seungmin you want to stop?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho stiffens, mouth falling open in a silent ‘o.’ He thinks about when he told Seungmin that and wonders how Jisung could have possibly heard, if he was walking by the room or if Seungmin had told him for some reason. If someone else had heard and said it. He feels a little betrayed by whoever it was.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I’m not sure it’s for me anymore,” he says faintly in response, turning his gaze away from Jisung and back out over the city.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Eh, I think that’s a bullshit excuse you’re telling yourself,” Jisung says, so brightly that Minho almost doesn’t read it as the insulting call out that it is. He laughs. “No, really. If you like it, you like it. If not, then you don’t. But don’t tell yourself it’s because it’s not meant for you. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hm, I don’t go around calling things you say dumb all the time, Hannie. Even though they <em>are</em> dumb.” Minho is a little hurt at the casual way Jisung says it, like he isn’t really taking it seriously enough and it <em>is</em> stupid, maybe, but these are Minho’s <em>feelings</em> and-</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“No, I didn’t mean it that way,” Jisung soothes right away, putting his hand on Minho’s shoulder. “Sorry. But maybe a little?” He makes a pinched face. “It just sounds like it’s an excuse, hyung. You don’t even sound like you believe it yourself.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I just think I should leave it to people who are better at it then I am.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Hyung.” Jisung’s face goes soft with pity. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“It’s fine,” Minho sniffs. “I’m perfect in every other way.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jisung laughs like the air has been punched out of his lungs and reaches out to put his hands on Minho’s shoulders. He feels oddly vulnerable that way, framed between Jisung’s arms and pinned in place by his soft gaze. It doesn’t look like pity anymore and that’s good because Minho really can’t stand that. Pity is why he jokes around and deflects and acts like nothing bothers him.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You’re really good at dancing, hyung. I know you love it. So I don’t really think it matters if you keep making videos as long as you keep dancing.” Minho can hear the hesitation, the unspoken ‘but.’ He watches Jisung silently, waiting. Jisung stares back at him and Minho swears he sees his eyes track down to his mouth and back up. He swears. He would bet all of his play buttons on it. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“But…?” Minho prompts, licking his lips and watching Jisung’s eyes. He was right, he was so right—</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“But what? Oh! But I don’t want you to give up making videos because you think you don’t deserve to or something.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“That’s not what it is—“ Minho stops, shivering violently when Jisung puts his cold hands on his face, his own flying up to cover them. “Hannie, why.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You deserve good things. Say it. <em>I deserve good things.</em>”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I know I do. Shut up.” Minho’s face goes hot and he looks down, pressing the toes of his shoes against Jisung’s. “What makes you think this is a good thing for me? This week, you all made it look so easy. None of you looked nervous at all about it, about how you would look and sound. Everyone looked like they belonged here.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You belong—”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“That’s not the point either, I know that. What would you do without me now?” Minho cuts him off and looks back up. Jisung’s eyes are so worried now and Minho kind of hates that he did that to him. “The point is like. I had fun with you <em>because</em> it was you. I never feel that when I’m making my own videos.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jisung nods like he finally gets it. Maybe he does. They clicked so easily, it felt so natural to talk to him, but Minho still can’t quite read him sometimes and he doesn’t know if Jisung really understands now. He’s not sure he can put it into clearer words, so he hopes he does. He’s not sure he can explain the dread he feels when he looks at comments and finds them demanding and rude in a thousand different languages he doesn’t even speak. </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“First of all, I’m always nervous,” Jisung says and startles Minho a little by pressing their foreheads together. His heart thuds in his chest and he can feel his face growing hot again but this is just easy skinship. That’s all. “Why do you think I talk so much? Like, maybe if I talk so much no one will notice how nervous I am. Like, you make me so nervous, you know that?” He says it quickly and Minho can see now, recognizes it in his face and voice. “Second, do what makes you happy, hyung. Isn’t that what we’re here for? What’s the point if we’re not happy or trying to be?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>He really can’t stop staring at Jisung’s lips. He could play it off as being intent on what he’s saying, but don’t people make eye contact for that? Isn’t that a staple of good communication? He doesn’t really want to play it off. He’s a little tired of the push and pull. He just wants to take. So he does.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho kisses him. The pull is magnetic and he hopes he isn’t the only one who feels it because it really seems like Jisung likes him too. God, he hopes he’s not the only one because this could get really, really awkward.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>It gets awkward. Jisung doesn’t move. His lips are stone and he’s stiff as a board under Minho’s hands. He pulls back, dropping his gaze and stumbling a little. “God. I’m sorry. Sorry, I thought that— Nevermind what I thought. It was just a joke, you know? It was just-” He can’t really put any spin on this. It is exactly what it was.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jisung is touching his lips when Minho finally looks at his face. He looks a little startled, eyes wide and mouth half open. Minho tries to step back and Jisung’s hand snaps out to clutch at his shirt and pull him in.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“No, wait. Wait, I was just surprised! Hold on, hold on. Do it again, kiss me again, okay?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho looks at Jisung’s earnest face and leans back in. This time is better. Jisung is responsive, his hands going around Minho’s waist and pulling him close. It’s tentative and Jisung still seems hesitant, so Minho tilts his head to slide their mouths together in an easier meeting. That seems to do the trick. Jisung comes alive under his touch, fisting his shirt in his hands. Minho crosses his arms lazily behind Jisung’s neck.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jisung tastes like the peppermint lip balm he’s been applying all night to keep his lips slick and shiny for the camera. Minho knows his own lips are chapped from licking them nervously for too long and the mint burns a little. It’s nice.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I really like you, hyung,” Jisung says when they finally break apart and Minho puts his chin on Jisung’s shoulder, suddenly tired. “I want to know you.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Okay,” Minho says. “I want to know you, too.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>*</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Oh my god! Oh my god, did you finally kiss? You fucking kissed!” Hyunjin is standing on the coffee table, pointing at them when they finally make their way back downstairs, hand in hand. Minho knows they must look like a mess. He tried to fix Jisung’s hair before they came back down, but it didn’t fix his slick and shiny lips, or the way he keeps flushing whenever he glances down at their joined hands.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Oh, they kissed?” Changbin comes in with a plate of fried chicken and pulls Hyunjin off the table, admonishing him with a swat to the side of the head. He nods at them. “Good for you. Congratulations. Now put something else in your mouth and don’t be gross, okay?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“That was grosser than anything we could do. Please don’t say anything like that ever again,” Jisung groans, pulling Minho towards the sofa.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I was talking about your tongue!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“That doesn’t make it any better!” </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“It’s better than what you <em>thought</em> I was talking about! Get your mind out of the gutter, Jisungie, I’ll-”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho thinks he could get used to all this.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>*</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>So that’s why my channel won’t be updated for a while. I hope everyone understands. In the meantime, feel free to follow me on my other social media and remember to subscribe to 3RACHA. You’ll be seeing a lot from me there. Take care everyone.</em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Minho reaches out to smooth out the neck of Jisung’s shirt as he finishes reading. “So? Does it sound good? Does it sound like me?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Yeah, it sounds fine. Thanks for plugging us,” Jisung jokes, standing from Minho’s computer chair and tugging him close. “I’m glad you’re doing what makes you happy.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Well, I wouldn’t be doing you if I weren’t.” Minho grins, sly and cheeky, leaning in to press a kiss to the side of Jisung’s head. “Thanks for being here.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“What would you do without me? Well, you’d probably still be wearing tacky sweatshirts for one.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Shut up, I’m trying to be all mushy and stuff, okay? Can’t you take the compliment?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Oh, I’ll take the compliment alright, I’ll take it right to bed-” Jisung squeaks when Minho digs his fingers into his side, tickling him furiously. “Uncle, uncle!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You’re unbelievable.” Minho can’t help but smile at the buzz beneath his skin, the lighter than air way that Jisung makes him feel. It’s a new beginning, for him, for his channel, for the way that he does things in his own life. He can’t wait to see what the future holds.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You like it, though. Come on, post that thing, and take me to bed, hyung.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Okay,” Minho agrees and presses the enter key.</em>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if you enjoyed this please drop me a comment. also, feel free to follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/cosmicwatchers"> twitter</a>! thank you so much for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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